1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for generating patterns of images, sounds, documents, or graphics by processing data indicating the patterns to be generated.
2. Description of the Background Art
Lately, a number of propositions have been made for a pattern generator utilizing a computer which generates a variety of patterns such as these of images, sounds, documents, or graphics by processing data, for the purpose of preparing presentation documents, public announcements, or brochures. Along with such pattern generators, there are various types of multi-functional editors for editing data obtained from any one of plurality of source media being developed.
Yet, such an editor becomes progressively complicated in order to accommodate diverse commands and functions as the number of types of data it deals with increases. As a result, mastering the skillful maneuvers for such an editor to be able to take full advantage of its superior faculties tends to require an enormous amount of training, and even with such skills it is often necessary to spend a great deal of effort and time in dealing with a complicated situation.
On the other hand, there are some propositions of document processing systems which edit a given document in a prescribed manner automatically by analyzing logical and referential structures of the document, such as one reported by I. Iwai, M. Doi, and M. Fukui in "On the Document Structure Generating Function of the Intelligent Document Editing System" appearing in `The Proceedings of the 34th General Conference of the Japanese Society of Information Processing', pp. 1309-1310, 1987.
However, patterns generated by this type of editing system cannot possibly conform with all the diverse personal preferences and inclinations of different users.
Thus, up to the present, it has been necessary either to invest a great amount of effort and time to master the maneuvers of a multi-functional editor, or else to compromise with only partially satisfactory output patterns produced by an automatic editing system in order to spare effort and time.